No judgment, lots of support in group treatment for mood disorders

Two years ago, Mary wasn’t sure she wanted to go on living. Undiagnosed bipolar disorder, with its extreme mood changes, had left the Charleston-area woman depressed and suicidal. “I was in the Institute of Psychiatry for a week,” she said.

There, she was finally diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which is a condition sometimes called manic depression that causes extreme mood changes. That led to medication, therapy and a group treatment program called MUSC ReVisions that gave her a support system of women and men who knew what she was going through.

Today, she’s upbeat and grateful.

“I started to look back at my behavior and realize there was a reason for it,” she said. “I had a lot of demons I had to face, things I’d done to people, and with the help of a therapist I was able to apologize to my family, which was an amazing thing.”

Mary, who asked that her last name not be used, wants other people with mood disorders to know that life can be much better with the right treatment. She also wants them to know about ReVisions, the program that allowed her to get intensive treatment without having to stay in the hospital once her condition was stabilized.

“ReVisions is a really good, loving place and the therapists, I can’t say enough about them,” Mary said. “There is no judgment, and everybody understands. We’ve all been there.”

Shayna Epstein, the administrative manager of ReVisions, said it’s designed for people with mood disorders who need intensive treatment on a daily basis for a limited time. Some, like Mary, suffer from bipolar disorder. It’s also for patients suffering from major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder or a history of trauma.

“There’s no waiting list. You can get in either the same day or the next day. If somebody needs this type of service, they need it now, not next week. Our staff is very accommodating,” Epstein said.

“We think we’re the only program like this in town. There are other intensive outpatient programs, but we’re the only one providing these types of group services with this type of schedule.”

Patients in ReVisions come for group therapy five days a week for three weeks. People who are functioning well enough to go to work and can’t make it to all of the sessions are welcomed too, Epstein said. 

ReVisions runs from 9:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, in a small building with plenty of parking – a valuable commodity in downtown Charleston. It’s at 295 Calhoun Street. 

Each day, the focus is on a topic such as handling difficult emotions, communication, loss and grief, anxiety, depression, acceptance and mindfulness. Licensed social workers, familiar with the patients’ backgrounds and symptoms, lead groups of eight men and women, tailoring the topics to the patients’ needs.

A typical day begins with patients writing in their journals, meditating and gardening. Then they have three rounds of group therapy with a lunch break in the middle. Patients also have the chance to meet one-on-one with a social worker and a psychiatrist.

Epstein said research shows that diverse groups do well in this type of therapy, so ReVisions accepts patients 18 and older. “We have patients in their early twenties all the way up to geriatric patients, and they’re able to learn from each other, really feed off each other to gain clarity and coping  skills. It’s been a really positive experience for staff and patients to have those differing diagnoses, age groups and backgrounds all in the same space.”

Mary enjoyed the mixture. “Having younger people there, I didn’t think I would like it, but I did like the different perspective.”

That doesn’t mean going through the program was easy. “At first, you just feel like you’ve been through a war because you’re facing these things you’ve hidden inside yourself. You come home exhausted,” Mary said. 

“I’ll be very honest about that. I told them when I graduated that this is the hardest job I’ve ever had – regaining my mental health. And I’m still working on it.”

While Mary has completed ReVisions and is doing well, she keeps her connection to the program. “I started the garden there. We have a little courtyard. I sneak in there every once in a while.”

The garden is maintained by people going through what she did, the process of learning how to live with mood disorders in the healthiest way possible through the ReVisions program.

“The group was good for me,” Mary said. “I learned a lot from it.”

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For more information about MUSC ReVisions, call 843-792-5567.